Background:In much of the Western hemisphere, mortality from traumatic acute extradural hematomas (AEDH) has been drastically brought down toward 0%. This is still not the case however in most developing countries.Case Description:This report represents a tragi-comic tale of two cases of traumatic AEDH managed by an academic neurosurgeon in a neurosurgically ill-resourced private health facility during a nationwide industrial strike action preventing clinical-surgical care in the principal author's University Teaching Hospital. A young man presented with altered consciousness, Glasgow Coma Score (GCS) 14/15, following a road accident. The cranial computed tomography (CT) scan was obtained only 9 h after its request, long after the man had actually deteriorated to GCS 7/15 with pupillary changes. The neurosurgeon, summoned from the nearby University Teaching Hospital for the operative care of this man, arrived on-site and was about moving the patient into the operative room when he took the final breaths and died, all within 2 h of the belated neuroimaging. This scenario repeated itself in the same health facility just 24 h later with another young man who presented GCS 7/15 and another identical CT evidence of traumatic AEDH. With more financially able relations, the diagnostic/surgical care of this second patient was much more prompt. He made a very brisk recovery from neurosurgical operative intervention. He is alive and well, 5-month postoperative.Conclusions:In most low-resourced health systems of the developing countries, a significant proportion of potentially salvageable cases of AEDH still perish from this disease condition.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.